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Teaser: staging set for blue whale move

Watch the scaffolding rising around one of our most famous specimens as the Museum gears up for a move of gigantic proportions.

As part of the Museum's ambitious plans to increase visitors' engagement with the natural world, our 4.5-tonne blue whale skeleton is being moved from its current home in the Mammals Hall.

From the summer of 2017, the skeleton will be suspended from the ceiling of the Hintze Hall, where it will be one of the first specimens visitors see as they enter the Museum.

Whale on film

The move will be documented in a series of films following Curator of Marine Mammals Richard Sabin and Head of Conservation Lorraine Cornish on their two-year journey to bring the whale to Hintze Hall.

Ahead of the release of the first film, this time-lapse shows the scaffolding being raised around the skeleton as preparations for the move begin in earnest.